Leather Dreams

It feels like I've been looking for (faux) leather leggings forever.  Every pair is too lose, too tight, too expensive, or too....leather-ey.  All I want are my legs to look thin with just a touch of cool girl shine! Is that too much to ask??

FINALLY my prayers have been answered!  I ran into this pair during a quick trip to zara last week and fell in love.  They're mostly "legging" with just a strip of faux leather down the side, and perfectly in my budget at $49.90!  I'm still waiting for them to come in the mail (of course the store was sold out of my size) but I'm sure I'll be wearing them nearly every day.




Side note: Does finding out an item is sold out make anyone else want it infinitely more??

Cranberry, Orange, and Ginger Chutney

 Thanksgiving is on its way!!  This has always been one of my favorite holidays.  A whole day devoted to eating delicious food, hanging out with family, and thinking about everything that's truly wonderful in our lives? What's not to love!  This year, I really want to branch out and try new recipes beyond the old favorites we make every year.  The first of these recipes is a chutney I found on Kitchen Confidante.  Having never made chutney, or in fact canned anything before,  I was a little nervous about how time consuming and difficult the whole process would be.  The recipe did end up taking about an hour and a half to complete, but the results were well worth it.  The chutney is both savory and festive with a slight bite from the tartness of the cranberries.  It will be fantastic by itself on crackers, and equally tasty served on brie.

-recipe after the jump-

This Week in Acupuncture School

I first discovered in college that my interests do not particularly line up with my personality type.  I was a genetics major but, being more into sororities than zombies vs. humans, most of my friends were in fields like PR and marketing.  Now in acupuncture school, I'm the odd girl out in my affinity for cheetos and lack of desire to join the occupy movement.  It would be hard to overestimate my love for science, and I can talk about the benefits of organic foods for days, but overall I'm just a little different.  Probably because of this, I find some things about acupuncture school hysterically funny.  In the spirit of sharing the love, here are the top three things I laughed about this week:

#1:

Every week, the administration of my acupuncture school publishes a student newsletter.  In addition to normal announcements, they publish responses to any suggestions students submit.  This week, one of the suggestions in the newsletter was this little gem:

I'm not sure Pepsi Co. carries kombucha...


#2:
Someone leaving cape cod potato chips in the student lounge with a sign that says "Please eat me! :-)"
Me: "SCORE!!!!" grabbing a huge handful and starting to eat them
Next student to enter the lounge: Smiles at chips, approaches bag, begins to read ingredient label of chips, smile slowly turns to frown, puts chips down and...backs...away
WHAT IS THE HORRIBLE INGREDIENT IN CAPE COD CHIPS???

#3
A fellow student offering around gluten free organic muffins in class (is that really a thing??).  They were delicious FYI.

Image via here

Spicy Quinoa with Black Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes

This semester has been crazy for me.  Between school, work, and attempting to maintain a social life, there doesn't seem to be any time for the gym or to prepare healthy meals.  Now that I have the tough mudder coming up, I need to get back on that fitness bandwagon and whip my booty into shape.  This recipe started as a mash up of foods already sitting in my pantry and ended up awesome. It's ridiculously easy, and although I ate it as a main dish, it would be equally great as a side dish to add some color to your plate.  The cheese is optional, but in the words of Julia Child, "you can leave it out...but you'll regret it"

-recipe after the jump-

Tough Mudder Season

For his birthday last year, Pat asked if I would do a Tough Mudder with him.  Now, the fact that Pat had to ask for it for his birthday should tell you two things:

1) He really wanted it to happen

2) A Tough Mudder is...rough

It's a 10-12 mile race with 25(ish) obstacles like "jump into a dumpster full of ice and see if you can swim across without your legs freezing off," and "slither through a foot of dirty water with live wires suspended above it and try not to get shocked (you will get shocked)." BASICALLY you're paying to be tortured.

I did it, and you know what?  It. Was. AWESOME.  Completely aside from forcing me into ridiculously good shape (no one hates a flat stomach and rock hard butt!), when I crossed the finish line I really felt like I accomplished something.  It's likely I was just delusional, near death, and high on endorphins, but it felt amazing.  This year, we decided to assemble a team and do it again!  I'm going to be registering this afternoon and I couldn't be more excited!  Bring on the torture!

Election Day

Good morning!!

Today is election day and, more than anything else in the world, I hope you are voting. Vote democrat, vote republican, just please vote!  If you hate both candidates, remember that if 5% of the popular vote goes to a third party candidate, they will be able to receive public funding in the future.  There is no such thing as a wasted vote as long as you believe in who you're voting for!

‎

Caitlin Wilson Textiles

As promised in this post, I'm going to tell you a bit more about Caitlin Wilson Textiles.  Primarily that she is BEYOND AWESOME.  I discovered her designs a few months ago after she her home was featured on design*sponge, and have been obsessed ever since.  Her prints are colorful, chic, and a breath of fresh air in practically any room.  Ringing in at around $50/yard, her fabrics aren't exactly bargain basement, but for a designer fabric throw pillow they're a steal.

Easier Than Pie

Honestly, I never understood that expression, "easier than pie." Pie is hard to make! The expression should be "Easier than easy mac," or "easier than scrambled eggs," or at the very least "easier than pie filling."  Pie filling is an easy thing to make, the difficult part is the crust. Pie crust always seems to be too hard, too soft, too wet, too dry, or a myriad of other "too's" that can go wrong.  My personal pie crust issues always seem to stem from holes magically appearing once the crust is already in the pan, aka after "the point of no return." I then spend the next 20 minutes or so crafting an incredibly intricate patch out of the leftover remnants only to find out that it did, indeed, leak while baking.

This morning I was up before the crack of dawn to do some last minute studying for an exam I have today, and surprisingly, found myself completely prepared.  There was literally nothing left for me to study!  Normally, I would have gone back to bed for a few hours, but I already drank a *significant* amount of coffee and there was no chance of falling asleep.  So, what's a girl to do at 5:30am when she's bouncing off the walls with caffeine?  Why, bake of course!  I had a whole bag of apples on hand, and although I wanted to make a pie, the thought of dealing with that inevitable hole was more than I could handle.  Instead, I opted for a galette.  A galette is much like a pie's effortlessly chic french cousin: unfussy, fabulous, and has a fun to say name. I modified an old family recipe for apple pie (I would be drawn and quartered if I blogged the actual recipe) and I couldn't have been happier with the results.  The crust came out beautifully, and as usual, the filling was delicious.  If only I could justify having warm apple galette for breakfast every day!

-recipe after the jump-

Elephants in the Room

Do you ever feel like the universe is trying to tell you something?  Like it's just giving you these really subtle little hints, and then the hints get bigger and bigger until you just can't ignore them anymore? No? I'm sounding crazy? Well ok then.

....WELL on a completely different and totally non crazy note, I have been seeing elephants EVERYWHERE.  Not metaphorical elephants of the pink variety, actual elephants.  Wooden elephants, brass elephants, glass elephants, they're all over the interior design-osphere (yup...I just made that word up), and I do not hate it.  Elephants were my favorite animal growing up, and if the universe wants me to decorate with them, I'm completely ok with it.

The Inspiration:

image via here

Home of Caitlin Wilson (more on her later!)

The Goods:

etsy

UO

West Elm

pottery barn

Anthropologie

Eating Lobstah

About two weeks ago I needed a vacation and I needed it BADLY.  I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, trying to memorize herbal formulas in between science experiments, when

SMACK

The feeling hit me in the face.  

I couldn't focus, I couldn't remember a thing, and no matter how much coffee I drank, it was not helping the situation.

I g-chatted my boyfriend Pat to say something along the lines of, "If I don't go on vacation soon I'm going to die!" (I'm not melodramatic at all) Thankfully, he agreed.  Within an hour of my vacation crisis we had a weekend picked, a hotel booked, and the semblance of a plan to go to Portland, Maine.

Portland was the ideal spot for an impromptu vacation.  It's only about a two hour drive from Boston, but feels completely different.  We wandered through local artisan shops, visited breweries, and found the best lobster roll place on the planet called The Lobster Shack at Two Lights.  The lobster roll was amazing, but the truly impressive thing was the location.  The restaurant is perched just above a beach with (you guessed it) a lighthouse on either side.  We ate outside on red picnic tables, the most picturesque waves crashing up onto rocks all around us, and nothing but the lobster shack and the ocean in sight. As we were standing in line to order, I commented on how the view could convince me to move to Maine.  The woman in line in front of us turned around to tell us she said the same thing 20 years ago, moved to Maine, and never looked back.  THAT'S how beautiful this place is.  It changes people's lives.

 Nom nom nom

 It's ok to be jealous, I have the cutest boyfriend ever.

Seriously SO beautiful!!

Dear Hurricane Sandy, I Never Liked That Billboard Anyway.

As I'm sure you all know, yesterday hurricane Sandy made her debut in Boston.  I feel so incredibly lucky that the only real damage around my apartment was the not-so-graceful wind removal of a billboard I haven't liked since day 1.

Hey Sandy! Thanks for watching out for me, girl!

I spent the day just drinking hot chocolate, studying, and making shepherd's pie.

There is no better beverage for a gloomy hurricane day

 I'm not even embarrassed to admit that my boyfriend and I finished this whole thing before the hurricane was over

Post Sandy, we have bright, beautiful sunshine

Hi! Hello! Hi!

Welcome to Sweet Kate Bonny Kate!

My name is Katie and I'm a 24 year old cancer researcher and acupuncture student living in Boston.  This blog is going to be about all of the things that keep me happy and inspired.  I hope they do the same for you!